


How I Met Your Dad... Your Other Dad

by Pugglemuggle



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: (hint: nursey and lardo like weed), (kind of), (sue me this is my fic i make the rules), Cute Kids, Derek "Nursey" Nurse is Unchill, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Dumb boys are dumb, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Ernest Hemingway Hate, Flirting, Future Fic, Gay William Poindexter, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Inspired by How I Met Your Mother, Kid Fic, M/M, Michelle Obama is going to be president in this future, Movie Dates, Mutual Pining, Nursey Writes Poetry, Obligatory Hockey Scene, Pansexual Derek Nurse, Pining, Poetry, Recreational Drug Use, Underage Drinking, Whiskey cameo, William Poindexter Fixes Things, background shitty/lardo - Freeform, coffee dates, it's really just inspired by the HIMYM style of non-linear storytelling, references to 10 Things I Hate About You
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2016-11-08
Packaged: 2018-08-29 20:35:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8504485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pugglemuggle/pseuds/Pugglemuggle
Summary: “Kids, I'm gonna tell you an incredible story...”“Derek, it’s really not that incredible—”“The story,” Derek continued, unperturbed, “of how your dad and I fell in love.”Or, Dex and Nusey tell their kids how they watched a Heath Ledger romcom, made out, started a custody battle over Chowder, flirted hard enough to make Whiskey abandon team breakfast, and fell in love—but not necessarily in that order.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as a part of the 2016 [Check Please Big Bang](http://checkpleasebigbang.tumblr.com/). Holy crap, I can't believe I finished it.
> 
> The art for this fic was created by the amazing [bittleobsessed](bittleobsessed.tumblr.com) and can be found [here](http://bittleobsessed.tumblr.com/post/152892723813/my-artwork-for-pugglemuggles-amazing-fic-how-i). Big shout out to them for cheerleading me through this and helping me talk through my headcanons! You're amazing!
> 
> ETA: There's a scene in here that I really want to change bc looking back, it's definitely a White Person scene that I kind of really regret now. I haven't gotten to changing it yet but just keep that in mind.

“Dad!” a voice shouted from upstairs. “Sam won’t turn his music down!”

“I did turn it down!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

There was a loud thump from the floor above that made the light in the kitchen shake. Derek and Will exchanged a look.

“It’s your turn,” Will said, looking over his shoulder as he stood next to the sink, washing dishes. “I dealt with it last time, so this one’s yours.”

“No, pretty sure it’s _your_ turn, babe,” Derek said. “I took care of the shower incident on Tuesday, so.”

“Yeah, well I dealt with Zara smearing peanut butter in Sam’s hair _yesterday_ ,” Will countered, “so I’m pretty sure you’re up, dick bag.”

“...Fuck,” Derek said, because Will was right. He let out a put-upon noise and walked around the house to the foot of the stairs. “Kids?” he called up. “Could you just, like, chill?”

There were a few indistinct yells and a screech, probably from Sam pulling Zara’s hair again. He sighed and took a deep breath.

“Hey!” he bellowed. “Samuel Ali Nurse-Poindexter, get down here! And you too, Zara!”

The shouting stopped and the two children appeared next to the banister at the top of the stairs, looking down at him meekly.

“Sam started it,” Zara said.

Sam looked like he was about to protest but Derek cut him off. “I don’t care who started it. Both of you need to get down here, right now. We’re going to have a talk.”

The kids quickly came down the stairs, staring at the their feet. “We're going to the parlor,” he told them.

Derek liked to call the part of the house with couches, chairs, and a TV the “parlor” because technically, it wasn’t exactly a living room. If anything, it was more of a living _area_. Their open floor plan meant that the kitchen was connected to the dining area as well as the sitting area, so it was really just one big room. Will still called the part with the couches and chairs “the living room”, because “we live in a four-bedroom house in the suburbs, not a fucking Victorian mansion with a fucking ‘parlor’”, but Derek had yet to let himself succumb to that logic. The kids called it the parlor, too, so he considered that a win.

He sat the kids down next to each other at the couch and pulled up the ottoman from one of the other chairs to sit in front of them. Past the couch, he could see that Will was just finishing up with the dishes.

“Okay,” Derek began. “You two have been fighting a lot lately. I know you don’t always agree or get along, but eventually you have to realize that you two are on the same team, okay? You’re siblings—you have to have each other’s backs.”

“Didn’t you and Dad fight a lot when you first met?” Zara piped up. “And you guys _still_ fight all the time. Isn’t that, like, the pot calling the kettle black?”

“Nice use of idiom, Zara,” Derek said, “but—”

“But your Papa and I are adults, so we’re allowed to have _adult discussions_ ,” Will said, wiping his hands with a towel and walking towards the couch. “And since when did you two know how we met?”

“Papa told us,” Sam said brightly. “Like, last month. Right Zara?”

“Yeah,” Zara agreed. “He did.”

Derek was pretty sure the kids were just playing them to get out of a lecture but unfortunately it was working.

“He did, did he?” Will said, raising an eyebrow at Derek. “What did he say?”

“He said that you almost broke his nose twice, and you were always super angry at him because he was right and you were wrong,” said Sam.

“That’s interesting,” Will said. “I’m sure he didn’t tell you about the time he tried to convince everyone that snakes were actually warm-blooded? Or the time he threw a hockey puck at my face and gave me a black eye?”

“That was an accident!” Derek insisted. “I wasn’t aiming for your eye!”

“No, you were aiming for my groin, which is _so_ much better.”

“Okay, fine, fine,” Derek conceded, because the kids were giggling now, and this was supposed to be a punishment. “I told them how we were first introduced to each other. I didn’t tell them to story of how we _really_ met.”

Will crossed his arms. “What do you mean, ‘really met?’”

“I mean when we first started to actually get to know each other,” Derek said. “When we first, you know, fell in love.”

“Eew!” Zara said, just as Sam cried, “Gross!”

Will and Derek exchanged matching triumphant looks. They’d won.

“I’m sorry for pulling Zara’s hair!” said Sam. “I promise I won’t do it again!”

“And I’m sorry for the peanut butter yesterday and I won’t do that again, either!” said Zara.

“It’s too late,” Will told them, coming around the couch to sit next to Derek on the ottoman. “You two are hearing the story now, whether you like it or not.”

“ _No,_ ” said Sam.

“Ugh, this is so unchill,” said Zara.

“Listen up, kids,” Derek said, ignoring their protests. “This is the story of how I met your dad.”

 **CUT TO:** THE SCENE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY OF HOW DEREK M. NURSE “REALLY MET” WILLIAM J. POINDEXTER

INT. FABER MEMORIAL RINK – EARLY MORNING

“I was wide open, Dex! Why didn’t you pass to me?!”

“You were out of position! How was I supposed to know you were there?!”

“I was yelling at you!”

“Well, I didn’t hear you.”

“How could you not hear me? I was yelling, ‘Hey, Dex! Pass it to me!’ and I was standing _right there!_ ”

“I don’t know, maybe I’ve finally managed to tune out your stupid pretentious voice!”

“ _Enough!_ ”

Both of them turned to see Ransom charging towards them on the ice with more than a little crazy in his eyes. They exchanged glances and promptly shut up.

“You two aren’t freshmen anymore,” Ransom said. “You were supposed to work this out _last year_. Do you know what I could be doing right now instead of trying to coach you _children_ through a seven A.M. practice? I could be sleeping, or studying for my bio midterm. You two need to get your shit together and stop wasting my time—the _team’s_ time—or things are going to get ugly.”

Ransom skated off towards the center of the rink and the rest of the team startled into action. There was no chance that everyone hadn’t just heard them get chewed out. Holster skated over next, stopping himself on the boards and turning to face them.

“Hey,” said Holster. “Rans is pretty stressed right now about his classes, but he’s right. You two need to get your shit together. Get off the rink. Get changed. Have a talk. Work this shit out. If this happens again we’re going to have to have a serious talk about your places on this team. Capeesh?”

They both nodded.

“Good,” Holster said. “Now go off and... bond, or whatever.” He skated off back towards Ransom, who was having rest of the team skate suicides on the other half of the rink.

Nursey and Dex went to the locker room and changed in silence.

Just when it seemed like it was becoming clear that Dex wasn’t going to be the one to break the silence, and just as Nursey was gearing up to say something suitably nonpartisan, Dex spoke up. “I... I can’t lose my hockey scholarship,” Dex said. “I need it to stay in school.”

“...Okay,” Nursey said.

“I wouldn’t expect you to understand,” Dex continued. “Your parents can probably pay for your whole tuition out of pocket.”

This was true. Nursey’s moms had enough disposable income to pay for all of Nursey’s college—and his graduate school too, if he decided to go. He ignored Dex’s tone and tried his best to make himself sound as evenhanded as possible. “You’re right, Dex. My parents are paying for all this, but I’m not—I’m not _heartless_ , bro. You’re saying that you want to make sure we get along so that R&H don’t kick us off the team, right?”

“...Yeah,” Dex said, and he looked almost scared, which, okay, was not a side of Dex that Nursey was used to seeing. Dex was belligerent and angry and sarcastic, but he wasn’t the kind to be _scared_. Except, apparently, maybe he was. It made Nursey feel like shit, because Dex really was right—this wasn’t something he would ever have to experience or understand.

“Okay,” Nursey said again. “I don’t want to be kicked off the team, and I don’t want you to lose your scholarship, because contrary to popular belief, I’m not actually a complete asshole.” He paused to gauge Dex’s reaction, but there wasn’t a reaction to gauge. Dex was just sitting on the bench, not looking at him, his hands folded in his lap. Shit.

“We can avoid certain topics,” Nursey continued. “Like, politics. I know you’re a Republican, so—”

“M’not.”

“Hm?”

“I’m not a Republican.”

“Oh. That’s... good.”

“I mean, I was when I first came here, but...” Dex trailed off, fidgeting. “Just, Shitty, you know. And everyone.”

An image of freshman-Dex from last year forced its way into Nursey’s head. Dex, who came to Samwell with a bunch of problematic opinions he’d never been taught to question, suddenly being bombarded with accusations and criticism from almost everyone he ran into. Nursey felt guilty despite himself, which sucked, because he didn’t exactly want to feel sympathy for _Dex,_ of all people. He wondered if he didn’t want to feel sympathetic because Dex was a dick, or because feeling sympathetic would mean forcing himself to acknowledge that he had been a dick, too. It was probably both. He’d have to figure that out later. Right now, they were supposed to be trying to get along now, right? He decided to keep his deliberations to himself.

“Alright, then. So, politics are still on the table, I guess. What about, um, religion? I mean, I’m not religious—”

“I was raised Catholic. But I don’t care. Whatever.”

“...So then, abortion...?”

“I said I don’t care. I was raised Catholic, but I’m not really, like—that doesn’t mean I’m....” He stopped and made a frustrated noise, scrubbing his face with his hands.

“...Sorry,” Nursey said, though he wasn’t really sure what he was apologizing for. “I’m just asking.”

“I know. It’s fine,” Dex said, like the words were physically paining him. “Abortion is a woman’s choice. Next question.”

“The Black Lives Matter movement?”

“Uh, I....” Dex glanced up at him. “I don’t know much about it. I’m really.... I just—I’m not racist, I’m just not... informed. Sorry.”

“If you want,” Nursey said carefully, “I can try to explain...  or just, go over it with you, sometime. I probably won’t be as good at it as Shitty but I’ll try not to be a dick about it—promise.”

“Okay,” Dex sighed. “That would probably be good. Yeah.”

“Cool,” Nursey said. “Should I keep going?”

“Sure. Whatever. Go ahead.”

“How do you feel about gun control?”

“...Uh. Probably a good thing.”

“Minimum wage?”

“Raise it.”

“Climate change?”

“Real.”

“Marijuana?”

“Whatever.”

“Are you homophobic?”

“ _What?_ ”

 **CUT TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

“Wait,” Sam said. “Dad’s _gay_. Why would you ask if he was homophobic?”

“Dad wasn’t out yet, stupid,” Zara said.

“Zara Michelle Nurse-Poindexter,” Derek said, trying his best to sound stern. “You are named after Michelle Obama, former first lady and soon to be President of the United States—”

“Derek, she’s named after my _mother_ , Michelle _Poindexter_ , not—”

“— _and_ ,” Derek continued, ignoring his husband. “Michelle Obama would not call her brother stupid.”

“Sorry, Sam,” Zara muttered.

“You’re right, though, Zara,” Will sighed. “I wasn’t out yet. But neither was your papa.”

“Are you sure?” Derek asked. “I actually don’t remember.”

“Derek, you weren’t out to anyone except, like, Lardo, I think.”

“Oh yeah,” he said, “I forgot about that.”

 **CUT BACK TO:** FABER MEMORIAL RINK (LOCKER ROOM)

Nursey shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal, even though it was. “I just asked if you were homophobic. It’s not a hard question.”

“You said you weren’t going to be a dick.”

“I’m not being a dick. It’s a yes-or-no question. Not hard.”

“I really don’t need your fucking attitude—”

“Why can’t you answer the question?”

“Maybe I could, if you’d stop harassing me—”

“Is it because you _are_ a homophobe? Is that why you can’t answer?”

“Fuck you, Nurse,” Dex spat, his words full of a venom so poisonous that it made Nursey afraid to speak. “I’m not— _I’m not a fucking homophobe_. If you’re _interrogating_ me because you actually want to know the answers, then fucking _listen_. I am sick and tired of you _assuming_ shit like this about me. I’ve worked really hard, okay? Like, I get that I said a lot of fucked up shit at the beginning of freshman year but I’ve _changed_ , so it’d be nice if you’d stop acting like I fucking eat babies or some shit. It’s not like you’re a goddamn saint, either.”

There was a part of Nursey that wanted to say, “ _But you were avoiding the question_ ” or “ _I had good reasons to assume_ ”, but instead he stayed silent. Either way Dex was right. He’d been too busy trying to attack Dex to figure out whether the reasons he was attacking him were still legitimate. That was pretty shitty. He felt like even more of a dick.

“I’m sorry,” Nursey said eventually. The words felt hollow on his lips but it was the best he could do. “For what it’s worth, I feel like shit.”

“Making Derek Nurse feel like shit is definitely worth something in my book, so don’t worry,” Dex said, but the hate was gone from his voice. This sounded more like chirping. Nursey felt his shoulders relax a little, and he sat up straighter.

“Alright, then.” he said. “Make me feel like even worse shit. Tell me stuff I do that pisses you off, and I’ll try not to do it as much.”

Dex raised an eyebrow at him. “You mean aside from acting like you’re right all the time and assuming you know everything?”

“Hey, I don’t know everything. I can’t do any of that computer-y shit you do.”

“You mean coding?”

“Yeah. Computer-y shit.”

“It’s coding.”

“Okay, fine. Coding,” Nursey said, grinning. “What else do I do? Lay it on me.”

Dex gave him another skeptical look, but then he shook his head and started talking. “It’s just, you’re always breaking shit, like your phone, or other expensive stuff, and I know you’re clumsy as hell so it’s not really your fault, only you treat it like it's not a big deal—but it _is_ a big deal. To a lot of people. And you talk about all the fancy family vacations you go on with your parents, and then you _complain_ , because ‘Costa Rica had so many mosquitoes’, or whatever. And I’ve never even left the country, except to go to Canada for a hockey tournament.”

“Okay. I... I can get why that would piss you off,” Nursey said.

Dex nodded. “Yeah. I guess that’s sort of what I’m thinking of when I get mad at you for being rich. It’s not really that you have money—it’s how you act about it.”

“Shit,” said Nursey.

“Shit,” Dex agreed.

There was a brief silence. Then Nursey said, “Maybe ‘shit’ can be our ‘always’.”

Dex stared, unimpressed. “Remind me why the fuck I associate with you again?”

“Because you haven’t got a choice, my D-man friend,” Nursey said, slinging an arm over Dex’s shoulder. Dex shrugged him off, but he didn’t look mad, so Nursey counted that as a win.

“Whatever,” Dex said. “Can we just call this bonding moment over?”

“We bonded?”

“Yes, dickbag. Now let’s get out of here before the others finish practice. It’s going to be awkward if we’re still in here when they come off the ice.”

“Yeah, let’s go. I don’t want Chowder to give us his ‘Please don’t make me pick a side’ look.”

“Really?” Dex said. “I always thought it was more of a ‘Help, my parents are fighting again’ look.”

Nursey laughed. “Oh my god, you’re right. He’s totally worried you’re going to divorce me.”

“You’re not getting out of paying child support for him, just so we’re clear.”

“Who’s to say your computer-y stuff isn’t going to get you rich?”

“College debt. And it’s _coding_.”

“Alright. _Coding_ ,” Nursey grinned. “And I’ll pay child support, but only if I get visitation rights.”

“Okay. One weekend a month.”

“C’mon, man. Two weekends at least.”

“ _Fine_ , two weekends, but I get Chowder on holidays.”

“Okay—but I get Halloween.”

“...Sure.”

“It’s a deal. Let’s high-five on it?” Nursey put up his palm but Dex just rolled his eyes.

It was like something had suddenly shifted between them. Provoking Dex before had always been entertaining, even if it had been a vindictive sort of entertainment. But this? The banter they had going now? This was _fun_. And if the smirk on Dex’s lips was anything to go by, Nursey wasn’t the only one enjoying himself.

“Is this weird?” he asked Dex as they left through the main entrance of Faber.

“Yeah,” Dex said. “Definitely weird.”

“I feel like we’re fighting without actually fighting.”

Dex nodded. “I know what you mean.”

“It’s not _bad_ weird though, right?”

Dex studied him, his amber eyes almost yellow with the angle of the sunrise. “No,” he said after a moment. “Not bad weird.”

Nursey nodded. He could do this, he thought. He could do this and, hopefully, things would turn out okay.

 **CUT TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

“I was wrong, of course. It was a disaster,” Derek said. He got a slap on the arm for his trouble.

“It was not,” Will said. “We were _fine_.”

“You’re right, we were fine, _eventually,_ ” Derek said, smiling. “But you don’t repair a relationship like we had overnight.”

“No,” Will conceded, “but all things considered, we fixed things pretty fast.”

“Yeah,” Derek said. “Yeah, I guess we did. It only took us, what—a week?”

“A week,” Will confirmed. “But it was still definitely an awkward week.”

 **CUT TO:** A SCENE AT SOME POINT IN THE BEGINNING OF THE AFOREMENTIONED AWKWARD WEEK

INT. CHOWDER’S ROOM, THE HAUS – AFTERNOON

Dex snapped his laptop shut with a little more force than necessary. “Fucking Segfault. Fucking _again_ ,” he said.

Chowder looked up from his statistics homework and swiveled around in his desk chair. “Oh no. Did you try going to the TA Help Lab?”

“I did yesterday,” Dex said, slouching back against the wall behind Chowder’s bed, “but I don’t think the guy really understood what I was trying to get help with. I’m pretty sure they thought I was working on an Intro to CompSci assignment.”

“Oh,” Chowder said, frowning. Across the room on the floor, Nursey glanced up from the book of poetry he was reading but didn’t say anything. Nursey hardly ever studied with them, since he was an English major and seemed to think that programming had no creative spirit. Today, though, he was here, and he hadn’t brought up his opinions on coding even once. He seemed quieter than usual, actually—not that Dex was complaining.

“Yeah,” Dex said. “I was going to go back again today to see a different TA but I think it’s closed now, so.” He sighed and leaned forward to gently rest his forehead on top of his closed laptop. “I think I could use a break.”

“Okay, sure, me too!” Chowder said, closing his statistics notebook. “We could watch a movie? Nursey, are you ready for a break?”

“Sure,” Nursey said. He closed his book without putting a bookmark in it or anything. What a weirdo. “What kind of movie did you have in mind?”

“Uh,” Chowder hesitated, “I don’t know, I didn’t think that far ahead.”

“One of my Andover friends told me about this really great European film that came out a few years ago. It’s about a woman who leaves her husband to live on a farm in the rural north. Super existential.”

“Is it a movie with subtitles?” Dex asked.

Nursey nodded. “Yeah. Why?”

Dex wanted to say that he asked because it figured that Nursey would suggest some kind of hipster indie foreign film, and that it mattered because he actually wanted to understand what was happening in the movie, thanks. Instead, he said, “I’ve been staring at a computer screen for a while and I don’t think I have the energy to read subtitles.”

Look at him, being mature. Maybe this was progress.

Instead of arguing, Nursey just nodded. “Okay, another time maybe.”

“Yeah! Maybe another time,” Chowder said, grinning nervously. He looked more than a little relieved, though, like he’d been expecting an argument. Dex felt a little guilty for putting Chowder in the middle of his and Nursey’s fights all the time.

“What about, like, a romantic comedy?” Chowder suggested next. “That would be pretty easy to watch without having to pay too much attention, right?”

“Sure,” Nursey said. “I’ll watch literally anything. I don’t really care.”

That also annoyed Dex. Have a fucking opinion, he wanted to say. Instead, he just mumbled, “Yeah, Chowder, sounds good,” and opened up his laptop again to search through his go-to movie masterlist site for films that fit the bill. Sure, Netflix was legal, but it it didn’t have the best movie selection. Chowder watched over his shoulder as he flipped through the pages to find the Rom-Com section.

“Oh! What about _The Proposal_?” Chowder said, pointing at his screen.

“Uh, I actually saw that recently,” Nursey said. He’d gotten up off the floor and was now leaning over Dex’s other side, a little too close to comfort.

“So you do have an opinion,” Dex said before he could stop himself. He backtracked. “It’s fine, we can watch something else—I’ve seen it before too.”

“Hm,” Nursey said neutrally. God fucking dammit.

“Okay!” Chowder jumped in quickly. “What about, uh, _10 Things I Hate About You_? I watched it last year with Caitlin. It’s based off a Shakespeare play I think?”

Nursey nodded. “Yeah, it’s based off of _Taming of the Shrew_ , I think. I haven’t seen the movie before but I’ve heard of it.”

“Sure,” Dex said, “I’ll watch—” _literally anything_ , he stopped himself from parroting. “—that.”

“A’ight,” Nursey said. He hopped up onto Chowder’s bed next to Dex and leaned back against the wall. “C’mon up, C. Let’s watch this.”

Chowder jumped up onto the bed on Dex’s other side, crowding Dex a little closer to Nursey as the bed groaned under the extra weight. Dex did his best to pretend like he wasn’t shying away from Nursey even though he was. Chowder’s twin-sized bed, which was not designed to accommodate three full-grown college hockey players, did not leave them much elbow room, even when they were all sitting perpendicular to the length of the bed. This meant Nursey’s upper arm was pressing up against his own upper arm, and their legs were touching. Great.

“Hm. How about I sit in the middle, since I’m a little shorter?” Chowder said. “That might give us more room.”

God bless Chris Chow. “Good idea,” Dex replied, even though the logic of the suggestion didn’t really make much sense. He handed Chowder his laptop and slid off the bed so they could rearrange. “She’s all yours.”

He thought things would be okay when they finally got positioned and started the movie. He was wrong.

“Hey, Dex, it’s your song,” Nursey said two minutes into the movie as soon as Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” started to play. Dex wasn’t sure whether to be more annoyed by the teasing, the fact that Nursey was talking during the movie, or the fact that he actually _did_ like that song, which meant Nursey was right. He settled for an equal combination of all three and told Nursey to shut up.

When Nursey spoke up again a few minutes later, Heath Ledger was making his first appearance of the movie. “Heath Ledger’s in this?” Nursey said. “I didn’t know he was in anything but Batman and Brokeback Mountain.”

 **CUT TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

“Brokeback Mountain?” Zara asked. “What’s that?”

“It’s a really good movie,” Derek said. “It’s—”

“Rated ‘R’, and not a movie you’re going to see until you’re older,” Will finished for him. Derek and Zara pouted.

 **CUT BACK TO:** CHOWDER’S ROOM, THE HAUS

“Brokeback Mountain.... That’s the gay cowboy movie, right?” Dex asked despite himself.

“Calling it the ‘gay cowboy movie’ is kind of reductive,” Nursey said. “Like, it’s an academy award-winning film about a really tragic romance, and all people talk about is that the characters were gay, which probably wasn’t even true. I’m pretty sure that _at least_ Heath Ledger was bi in that movie, if not both of them. Besides, it’s not like you call _Titanic_ the ‘heterosexual boat movie’, or—”

“Could you please shut up,” Dex said, politely. Mostly politely. He was trying. “We’re going to have to start this scene over.”

“Hey, you asked.”

“Well, I regret asking,” Dex said. Chowder set the video back about a minute so they could rewatch the part that Nursey had talked over.

They managed to get a few minutes of blissful silence as the movie progressed a little further, introducing a few more characters before cutting to a scene in an English classroom with the hostile girl from the beginning. As soon as the character started unleashing her scathing feminist criticism of Ernest Hemingway, Nursey was all but yelling.

“Fuck yeah!” Nursey said. “You go, girl. Get wrecked, Hemingway! Fuck you, your misogyny, and your cats. No one likes you. Shit, she just fucking _obliterated_ his white ass. Oh my god, I’m _alive_.”

“Really?” Dex asked, reaching over to pause the movie.

“What?” Nursey asked.

“I don’t think we need your commentary.”

“C’mon, why do you have to be that way? I’m just having fun.”

“And I’m just trying to watch the movie.”

“But—”

“But you’re _ruining it_ ,” Dex said. Then he glanced down between them and saw Chowder, looking worried and nervous and very, very uncomfortable. Shit. Dex leaned back and sighed. _Let it go, Dex, let it go, let it go, let it go_.... He spent another half-second trying to say nothing, but that wasn’t going to work, so he settled instead for chirping. “You are so totally paying child support for this, Nurse,” he said, shutting his eyes.

“Damn right I am,” Nursey said easily. “Halloween is mine though, remember?”

“We’ll see about that. Depends on how many more times we have to rewind the movie because of you.”

“That’s not how child custody works!”

“Oh yeah? Try me.”

“Fine,” Nursey mumbled, his tone slightly too sulky to be completely for show, but hey, they were getting there. “I’ll be more quiet.”

“Thanks,” Dex said.

Chowder looked back and forth between them like they’d grown second heads. When neither of them offered any explanation, he blinked a couple times, turned back to the laptop screen, and unpaused the movie.

The rest of the movie went by without incident. Nursey was true to his word. He stayed quiet for the first twenty minutes, then gradually started to make small comments every now and then, which was fine, because small comments weren’t that distracting and could, on occasion, actually be funny. Dex couldn’t help smiling at some of the things that left Nursey’s mouth.

At the end of the movie as the credits rolled, Nursey asked, “Why is it called _‘Ten_ Things I Hate About You’? At the end her poem listed, like, thirteen things.”

“Of course you would’ve counted,” Dex said, grinning.

“Why ‘of course’? Aren’t you the math geek? Why didn’t you count?”

“I’m a computer geek, not a math geek.”

“And _I’m_ a literature geek,” Nursey said. “And I’m telling you—she’s going to confuse a lot of people if that’s how she titles her poetry.

Chowder beamed at them. “So, did you guys like the movie?”

“Eh, it was alright,” Nursey said.

Dex reached over Chowder to shove Nursey’s shoulder. “Shut up, you loved it. You can like things that aren’t Indie films made in Iceland, you know.”

“Okay, fine, it was pretty good,” Nursey grinned. “And I like plenty of things that were made outside of Iceland. I like _Blue is the Warmest Color—_ that’s French.

Dex rolled his eyes. He was still smiling, though, and he couldn’t seem to stop.

 **CUT TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

“So, what’s _Blue is the Warmest Color_?” Sam asked.

“Another really good movie that your dad won’t let me show you,” Derek said.

“Derek,” Will said, raising an eyebrow. “ _Brokeback Mountain_ is one thing— _Blue is the Warmest Color_ is rated NC-17—and for good reason.”

“Is it?”

“ _Yes_.”

“...Huh.”

 **CUT TO:** A SCENE LATER ON IN THE SO-CALLED “AWKWARD WEEK” BETWEEN DEREK M. NURSE AND WILLIAM J. POINDEXTER

EXT. RIVER QUAD – EARLY AFTERNOON

“DEX!”

Dex frowned and turned around at the far end of the quad, scanning behind him to see if he could spot Nursey in the crowd of students rushing out of their classrooms. He stepped off into the grass to get a better view and sure enough there was Nursey, sitting in a pile of leaves at the edge of the quad and trying to shove his things back into his bag. When he made eye contact Nursey waved at him to wait before finishing packing up his books and jogging over to meet him.

“Hey, Dex,” Nursey said. “‘Sup, man?”

“I’m fine,” Dex replied. “What do you want?”

Nursey mimed being stabbed in the chest. “Ouch, bro, that hurt.”

“You know what I mean,” Dex said, rolling his eyes. “Why’d you call out to me?”

“I just wanted to say hi to my bro, is that allowed?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether or not the bro in question has a class to get to.”

“Oh,” Nursey said, his smile faltering just slightly. “Are you heading to a class?”

“No,” Dex said. He felt only a little guilty for being such a dick. “It’s your lucky day.”

“Sick,” said Nursey. “I was going to ask if you wanted to do some studying?”

“You? Studying?” Dex chirped. “I didn’t know English majors did that sort of thing.”

Nursey laughed. “We do, on occasion. Like, when we have a midterm coming up in the Calculus class we’re required to take for Gen Ed credits?”

“...Are you asking me to help you study for your math test? Because I told you that I’m not a math guy.”

“Yeah, I know,” Nursey said. “But you’re pretty much the closest thing I’ve got, aside from Ransom. But Ransom’s like, hella busy.”

“I still probably won’t know most of it. It’s been a while.”

“Okay, but if you agree to help me on the stuff you do know, I’ll proofread that Ethics of Artificial Intelligence essay you have to turn in Thursday.”

“Huh.” Dex was surprised that Nursey had even remembered that he’d had that essay. “That... would actually be really helpful.”

“I’ll even buy you a coffee if we go to Annie’s.”

“Okay, deal,” Dex said. Nursey offered him a hand and Dex shook it.

By the time they got to Annie’s, the place was already busy with students. Nursey got some kind of elaborate autumn-themed latte while Dex just had Nursey buy him straight black coffee, much to Nursey’s disappointment. Most of the tables next to power outlets were already taken. They probably could have been fine without an outlet—he knew their laptops could last for a while on charge—but Nursey managed to sweet talk a couple girls reading books at an outlet table to switch with them so they could plug in their computers. Dex rolled his eyes. All Nursey had to do was smile at people and he got whatever he wanted. It was fucking ridiculous.

“So, what’s your Calculus test on?” Dex asked, opening his laptop.

“Just like, the beginner derivative stuff. It’s probably not hard but I haven’t taken math since my junior year of high school, so.”

Dex looked up. “You didn’t take math your senior year?”

“Nope.”

“At _Andover_?”

“Nope. I took double English instead.”

“And you still got into Samwell?”

“Hey, I’ll have you know my essays were phenomenal,” Nursey said. “Plus, I got really good scores on all the AP tests I took. I just didn’t take a math one.”

“But you still had to do the SAT and shit. That has math in it.”

“I’m good at SAT math,” Nursey said. “Well, good enough.”

“...Okay,” Dex said. “Why are you taking Calculus? Couldn’t you have taken Stats or something for the Gen Ed credits?”

Nursey sighed. “Stats was full.”

“Wow. That sucks.”

“Yeah.”

They were quiet for a moment.

“Alright, show me your study guide or whatever,” Dex said. Then he pulled up his Artificial Intelligence essay and turned his computer around. “You proofread this while I look over the guide to see how fucked you are.”

Nursey laughed. “Okay, sounds good.”

Surprisingly, studying with Nursey wasn’t completely awful. He actually gave really useful feedback on Dex’s essay, and when he finished proofreading he worked quietly on math practice problems. Nursey was one of those people who chewed at the erasers of his pencils while he worked, he noticed. Dex did that too. When he got to a roadblock in his essay, he found himself looking across the table to watch Nursey, just because he was there and Dex was distracted. Nursey was focused on a math problem, his brows knitted together as he tapped the end of his pencil against his bottom lip. After a moment or two he seemed to finally register Dex’s eyes on him and he looked up. “What’s up, Dex?” he asked, grinning. “Do I have pencil marks on my face or something?”

“No, you’re fine,” Dex said, turning his gaze back to his laptop. “I’m just thinking, ‘s all.”

Dex wasn’t stupid. He was, however, willing to repress a lot of his thoughts and feelings in order to preserve an illusion of control over his life. When a small, vague part of his brain started to formulate a small, vague thought in the back of his mind, and when that small, vague thought started to coalesce into something more distinctly affectionate, Dex did what he did best: he blocked it out.

Better to nip whatever this was at the bud rather than let it develop into something inconvenient. Yikes.

 **CUT TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

“This, kids, is called an incredibly unhealthy coping mechanism,” Derek said. “Please don’t try this at home.”

Zara rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you guys were even able to stay oblivious. It seems like you guys were _obvious_.”

“To be fair,” Will said, “it was a slow descent. I don’t think we got really bad until later that week. That’s when everyone started noticing, at least.”

“Oh yeah,” Derek laughed. “Oh my god, do you remember what they were like at the next team breakfast we went to?”

“God,” Will said. “Yeah. That was priceless.”

 **CUT TO:** THE SCENE AT THE NEXT TEAM BREAKFAST WHERE EVERYONE WAS REALLY WEIRDED-OUT

INT. THE COMMONS – MORNING

“Get your own fucking bacon, asshole.”

“But they were out when I went to get some!”

“They probably have more out now.”

“But that would mean standing up.”

“So get off your lazy ass and get some bacon.”

“But I don’t _want_ to,” Nursey whined.

The rest of the team was eating their breakfast in silence, pretending not to watch their antics with varying degrees of success. Chowder was all but staring, looking like he wasn’t sure whether to be elated or scared. Bitty kept side-eying them with a concerned look and Lardo shot him inscrutable glances periodically over the top of her coffee. The rest of the team seemed to be settling for vaguely perplexed and disturbed.

Nursey didn’t exactly blame them. This was the first time he and Dex had sat next to each other at team breakfast—and probably, now that he thought about it, the first time they’d sat next to each other _ever_ aside from roadies. They’d never really been known to have conversations with each other that weren’t fights or explicitly about hockey. _This_ kind of interaction—amicable chirping?—was not normal.

Nursey waited another few second, pretending to drop the conversation, and then darted out with his hand to snag another couple pieces of bacon from Dex’s plate, shoving them quickly into his mouth.

“Seriously?” Dex said. Nursey just grinned triumphantly through his mouthful of bacon. “Why don’t you steal Chowder’s bacon?”

“Because stealing Chowder’s bacon isn’t a challenge,” he said with his mouth full.

“But I’ll bet Chowder wouldn’t do this,” Dex said, and before Nursey could react, Dex’s hand shot out and grabbed Nursey’s glass of orange juice. He downed the entire thing in one go, glaring at Nursey all the while, and then slammed it back on the table when he was done.

“Oh, it’s on, bro,” Nursey said. He launched himself towards Dex’s plate, only to be shoved back by Dex’s hand to his face. He flailed momentarily, trying to reach around the hand to the plate, but Dex pushed his food further down the table and out of reach.

“Dude, you’re pathetic,” Dex laughed. “I’m not even trying that hard.”

Dex’s hand was still on his face, covering his mouth, nose, and part of his eye, so for some reason Nursey decided that the best course of action would be to stick his tongue out and lick Dex’s palm.

“Holy fucking shit, was that your _tongue?”_ Dex yelped, jerking his hand away and wiping it furiously on his jeans. Nursey took the opportunity to reach over Dex and grab his entire plate of food. “That’s gross, man.”

“Hey,” Nursey said, eating Dex’s last piece of bacon. “All’s fair in love and war, am I right?”

Dex shoulder-checked him lightly on the bench seat. “Dick.”

Nursey smirked. “Yup.”

“...What the fuck,” Whiskey interrupted.

The team had stopped pretending not to stare and were now doing so openly.

“...What?” Nursey had the audacity to ask.

“This is fucking weird, you guys,” Lardo said, setting down her coffee. “Like, I wasn’t at morning practice the other day, but I heard what happened. So I’ll say it again: _this is fucking weird_.”

“Ransom and Holster told us to talk it out, so we did,” Dex said, like it was that simple, which it actually sort of was, he guessed.

“Yup,” Nursey agreed. “Communication: it’s mad effective.”

“Right,” Lardo said. She and Bitty shared a Look.

“Well,” Holster said, “I’m glad that you two took what Rans and I said to heart. It’s great that you two are friends now.”

“Yeah,” Ransom agreed. “I’m sorry I was sort of harsh on you yesterday. But now you’re bros! You can carry on the D-Man best bro tradition.”

“Exactly! Broship, my dudes,” Holster said. Then he and Ransom telepathically coordinated a high-five without looking at each other.

Lardo and Bitty shared another Look. An entire silent conversation seemed to go on between them.

“See you later,” Whiskey said suddenly, getting to his feet and looking at his phone. “I have to go study.”

This was a blatant lie. Nursey and at least half the table had seen him doing a lot of right-swiping on tindr all through breakfast.

“It’s eight in the morning?” Tango said, turning the statement into a question. “Isn’t it a little early, to... um, study?”

“No,” Whiskey said. Then he left.

“Man, that kid’s dedicated,” Ransom said. “He studies almost as much as I do.”

It wasn’t just Lardo and Bitty sharing a look that time.

 **CUT TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

“Can Uncle Bitty and Auntie Lardo really have secret conversations with their eyes?” Sam asked. “That seems weird.”

“Why don’t you ask Auntie Lardo herself?”

They all turned towards the back door where Lardo was leaning against the door frame, looking at her nails.

“Auntie Lardo!” Zara and Sam squealed, leaping off the couch and rushing to hug her.

“Sup,” she said.

“Not that I’m not glad to see you, but how did you get in?” Will asked her, looking vaguely concerned.

Lardo shrugged. “I used the key you guys hide underneath that little lobster statue-thing I made for you a couple years ago.”

“How did you know our key was there?” Derek asked.

“Johnson told me.”

“We have literally never even met Johnson. How the fu—” Will stopped, glancing at the kids “—frick does he know where we hide our spare key?”

“Man, Johnson’s just weird like that,” Lardo said. “You gotta just accept it and move on.”

“Fine, whatever,” Will said. “What made you decide to stop by?”

“I was just going to see if you guys had some aluminum cans in your recycling that I could use for an art project, but since you two are doing story time, I could stick around a little longer.”

“Yay!” Zara shouted as Sam started pulling Lardo by the arm towards the parlor.

“Can you really talk to Uncle Bitty with your mind?” Sam asked.

“Yes and no,” Lardo replied. “We _can_ communicate, but only when we’re complaining about how totally hopeless all our friends are.”

“Cool,” Sam said.

“Can you tell us what happened next?” Zara asked Lardo, grabbing Lardo’s hand and giving her a pleading look.

“I’m guessing you left off right after your dads stopped wanting to kill each other and instead started acting like four-year-olds?”

“Yeah!” Sam said.

“Well,” Lardo said. “Bitty and I decided that we needed to talk to them—Bitty would talk to Dex and I was going to talk to Nursey. So the next time I invited Nursey to my room to—” She paused, catching herself. “—to eat some really good brownies, I asked him what was going on—what was _really_ going on.”

 **CUT TO:** THE SCENE WHERE DEREK M. NURSE AND LARISSA DUAN ATE BROWNIES AND (SORT OF) TALKED ABOUT WHAT WAS REALLY GOING ON

INT. LARDO’S ROOM, THE HAUS – AFTERNOON

“Hey, Nursey?” Lardo asked. She felt like her hands and feet were really, really heavy, which was a nice feeling, and she didn’t want to move. She and Nursey were lying on her bed, staring at the blank white space of her ceiling. “Do you think computers could ever, like... create art?”

“I dunno, man,” Nursey replied. “Like.... depends on what _art_ is, you know?”

Lardo made a humming sound, then asked, “Could a computer ever be, you know, sens... sensh....”

“Sentient?”

“Yeah. Sentient. Thanks, word guy.”

“No problem, bro,” Nursey said. “I dunno if computers could ever, like, have a conscience and shit. I bet Dex would know, though. He knows, like... _so much._ So much computer stuff—coding. Coding stuff. But also just... _so much_.

Lardo made the effort to roll her head over to the side to look at Nursey. “What’s the deal with you and Dex, anyway?”

Nursey did a strange sort of half-shrug. “We used to fight a lot, and now we just sort of... bicker. For fun.”

“Uh-huh,” Lardo said dubiously. “Can I be kinda mean to you?”

“Uh,” Nursey said. “I guess. Go ahead.”

“Are you aware,” Lardo began, “that in most cultures and civilizations, bickering for fun is usually called flirting?”

Nursey giggled. “Flirting? With _Dex_?”

“That’s what it looks like.”

“I flirt with everyone,” Nursey said. “Ergo, I flirt with no one.”

“That’s the least true thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Okay, fine. But I’m not flirting with Dex.”

“Because...?”

“Because it’s _Dex_. I mess with him because it’s fun to rile him up. So it’s, like, chirping.”

“Chirping and flirting are variations on the same idea.”

“Stop quoting Bitty’s twitter.”

“But it’s true!”

“But it’s _Dex_ ,” Nursey whined. “Dex is like, the last person I would ever flirt with. A few days ago we _hated_ each other. We dig at each other because that’s our _thing—_ it’s what we do. Everything with Dex is an automatic no-homo.”

“So you’re ‘not flirting’ with Dex because he’s... straight?”

“Yes! I mean, no, it’s not _because_ he’s straight. It’s because—it’s just _because_. C’mon, man, you’re killing my buzz.”

“Alright, fine. I’ll drop it,” Lardo said. She closed her eyes and rolled them beneath her eyelids, because she really didn’t need this right now. “But if this ever becomes a _thing_ , you can talk to me, okay? I’ll only say I told you so, like, twice.”

“Okay, got it. Won’t happen, though,” Nursey said.

“Sure,” Lardo said. “Whatever you say.”

 **CUT TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

“And I was right,” Lardo said. “I was right, and your dads were being ridiculous.”

“ _Stop_...” Will groaned. “We get it. We got it like, seven years ago.”

“You and Bitty are never going to let that go, are you?” Nursey sighed.

Lardo smirked. “No, we’re not.”

“So, did Uncle Bitty try to talk to you?” Zara asked Will. “What did he say?”

“Hah,” Will laughed. “Not much.”

 **CUT TO:** THE SCENE WHERE ERIC BITTLE SAID.... NOT MUCH

INT. KITCHEN, THE HAUS – AFTERNOON

“So,” Bitty said, stirring a pot of something over the stove. Dex looked up from his CompSci homework.

“What?” he asked.

“You and Nursey have been getting along a lot better lately.”

“Yep.”

“Do you want to... talk about it?”

Dex frowned. “Nope.”

“You sure?”

“Yep.”

“You know, you can always—”

“Yep. Okay. Will do.”

“...Okay,” Bitty said.

They went back to what they were doing in silence.

 **CUT BACK TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

“Wow,” Zara said. “That wasn’t... much....”

“How long was it before you figured out you liked each other?” Sam asked.

Will and Derek looked at each other.

“About three...” Derek said.

“Three what?” Sam asked. “Three days? Three weeks?”

“...Three months,” Will finished.

“Yep,” Lardo said. “They drove Uncle Bitty and I up the wall for _three whole months_. It was a lot of fun. How many coffee not-dates did you two go on again?”

“It was twice a week,” Will said.

“Twice a week, four weeks a month, for three months... That’s twenty-four dates,” Lardo said. “ _Twenty-four_.”

Derek crossed his arms. “How many times did you and Shitty get froyo before—”

“That’s not the same thing,” Lardo interrupted.

“How do you have a coffee date... without it being a date?” Zara asked.

“You call it a study date,” Dex said.

 **CUT TO:** ONE OF THE TWENTY-FOUR COFFEE NOT-DATES ATTENDED BY DEREK NURSE AND WILLIAM POINDEXTER IN WHICH THEY IGNORED THEIR FEELINGS

INT. ANNIE’S CAFE – AFTERNOON

“You want some coffee with that sugar?” Dex asked, eyeing Nursey’s drink with distaste. This was a familiar dance by now. Nursey knew the steps by heart.

“You’re just jealous because your bean juice is even more bitter than you are,” Nursey said. “Bitter coffee makes you a bitter person. It’s science. That’s why I take mine sweet.”

And in another time, Dex might have bristled, might have retaliated. Now he just laughed. “If you’re trying to get me to call you sweet, it’s not going to happen.”

This was his routine. Leave class, grab his books from his dorm, head to Annie’s, study with Dex. Every Tuesday and Thursday. Occasionally Chowder joined them if his afternoon class was cancelled, but usually it was just the two of them, and everything had been going surprisingly... okay.  In fact, Nursey might hesitantly say that things were going _well_.

“Hey,” Nursey said, tapping Dex’s shoe with his foot for emphasis. “You wanna see a movie tonight?”

Dex gave him the same look he’d given Nursey’s chocolate mocha. “What kind of movie?”

“I dunno,” Nursey said. “We don’t have to see a movie. We could go bowling, or whatever. Or we could go get burritos at Jerry’s. It’s up to you.”

“So what you’re saying is that you want to get off campus and do something?” Dex said skeptically. Nursey thought there might be an unsaid _“with me?”_ on the end of Dex’s sentence, which was probably the real question, anyway. _You want to go out and do something with me?_ _Really?_

“Well, yeah,” Nursey said. He wasn’t sure which question he was answering—the spoken or the unspoken. It didn’t really matter, he guessed. The answer was the same.

“Uh, okay,” Dex said. “A movie’s fine. How about the new James Bond movie?”

And in another time, Nursey might have suggested something different, a movie that he knew Dex wouldn’t like just to rile him up. Maybe he’d still do that. If he did, though, he knew that his voice wouldn’t sound the same as it had before. His bite was gone—had been ever since the locker room.

He didn’t make another suggestion, though. Instead he said, “Sounds good. I’ll check the movie times.”

—

Nursey honestly didn’t have a clue what happened in the movie. Here were a few things he did remember, though:

Dex was a serial snack smuggler. He brought in three packs of skittles and a liter of coke by hiding them in his coat. He also brought in a huge empty popcorn container because apparently they do free refills on popcorn, and “they never specify anywhere _how_ many free refills you’re allowed to have, so I’ve been using this container since last June.” The guy checking their tickets didn’t even look twice.

Dex had opinions about where to sit in a theater. “The best seats are two-thirds of the way back in the middle of the row—that’s where the engineers sit when they’re designing the sound system. You get to be in the sweet spot for the left, right, and middle speakers all at the same time, so the surround sound works better.”

“But what about the front row?” Nursey said. “We could put our feet up on the railing.”

Dex just gave him a look.

Dex didn’t mind Nursey eating all his orange skittles. At the beginning of the movie, Dex caught him poking through the bag and whispered, “What’s so special about the orange ones?”

Nursey shrugged. “They’re the only ones I like.”

Dex frowned but didn’t question him further. He did, however, start to hand him all the orange ones he came across, pressing candies into Nursey’s palm periodically throughout the movie. Dex’s fingers were warm. His touch kept making Nursey’s heart jump.

And the last thing. Dex... he was really into the movie. Nursey didn’t think it was that good, but Dex had this focus, his eyes trained on the screen and his mouth set in a thin line. Nursey noticed the way he fidgeted in the more suspenseful moments of the movie, and the way he grinned at the jokes, and the way his lips parted a little when they revealed the plot twist at the end of the movie.

There was a poetry to Dex in that theater. Nursey felt the same way he did walking across campus in the early evening, the sidewalks quiet and the wind shushing the turning tree leaves. Very Wordsworthian. His mind swirled with half-formed phrases, thoughts that could’ve become words, if he’d had a pen.

“Did you even watch the movie?” Dex asked on the way back to his car—a 1988 Ford pickup from back home in Maine.

Nursey shrugged. “Not really.”

“What’s the point of paying for a movie if you’re not even going to watch it?” Dex asked.

Nursey could think of a few reasons. He didn’t say them, though—he didn’t want to make it weird. He at least had enough self awareness to know that things might get awkward if he admitted to paying more attention to Dex than James Bond.

“I needed to add this ticket stub to my collection,” Nursey says instead. “How was I going to get it otherwise?”

Dex just rolled his eyes. “You’re fucking weird.”

Nursey smiled. Yeah, maybe he was.

 **CUT TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

“Nauseating,” Lardo said. “It was bad on the ice, too.”

“...You mean good,” Will said. “I’m pretty sure we played some of the best hockey of our lives in those few months.”

“Yeah, R and H were, like, super impressed.”

“...And the rest of us were definitely trying not to barf,” Lardo scoffed.

**CUT TO:** A SCENE IN WHICH WILLIAM POINDEXTER AND DEREK NURSE PLAYED SOME DAMN GOOD HOCKEY 

INT. FABER MEMORIAL RINK – EARLY MORNING

Dex skated out towards the blue line. Nursey was behind him to the right, ready to start the play they’d been practicing. They were working on their offense by playing two-on-two against Ransom and Holster after everyone else got off the ice, and so far he and Nursey were _winning_.

At the moment, Ransom and Holster were getting ready to block Dex, to push him back out of senior territory. What they weren’t expecting was a drop pass to Nursey, which let Nursey skate forward towards the goal line at the right of the rink—not a clear path to the net, but enough. Nursey skated behind the net as Dex raced around Holster and forward towards crease.

“Nurse!” Dex said when he was clear. Nursey didn’t have to look. They’d done this move before. Without even turning around he hit a backhand shot towards Dex. Dex pulled back his stick and hit a slapshot straight into the net.

“ _Fuck yeah_!” Nursey said, slamming into Dex’s side and pulling him into a two-man celly. “That was beautiful, Dex!”

“Can’t believe you made that fucking shot,” Dex grinned. “How the fuck are you such a klutz off the ice when you can do _that_ in skates?”

Nursey shrugged. “How can you pull off a smile like that when you’re always, like, super pissy?” Dex swatted at the side of Nursey’s head and Nursey leaned forward, resting the plastic visor of his helmet against the visor of Dex’s. He was too close for Dex to even try to focus on him properly. His heart was beating fast in his chest, his whole body thrumming with adrenaline—the rush of the goal. There was ice under their feet, and the air in the rink was cold, but... Goddammit, he was _warm_. For a moment, just a moment, he let himself want—

“What the fuck?” Ransom said. Nursey pulled away. “That did _not_ just happen. Holster, did you see that goal? Or was I just hallucinating?”

“Nah, bro—that was real,” Holster said, skating up next to them. He pulled off his helmet and pretended to wipe away a tear. “Our little frogs are all grown up.”

“Well, someone’s gotta keep up the Samwell D-Man legacy after you guys graduate,” Nursey said.

Rans shook his head. “Man, I don’t even want to think about graduating. Fuck.”

“Yeah, way to kill the mood, Nurse,” Dex said, bumping his shoulder. Nursey smiled.

Bitty and Lardo were definitely watching them when they got off the ice. The expressions on their faces were far from inscrutable, but it was easier for Dex to pretend he didn’t know what they were thinking.

 **CUT TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

“So, Dad, you knew something was, you know, _happening_ with you and Papa, right?” Zara asked. Will frowned.

“I didn’t really _know_.... I don’t think it was that clear-cut,” he admitted. “It was a really slow, gradual realization with a lot of different stages. I can’t really pinpoint a specific moment when I realized I was head over heels.”

“Really?” Derek said. “Because I can.”

Will groaned. “ _We know_. You’ve told this story it _so many times_.”

“I haven’t heard it,” Zara piped up.

“Me neither,” added Sam.

“Really?” Derek said. “Well, in that case....”

“Here we go,” Will muttered.

**CUT TO:** THE LONG-AWAITED SCENE IN WHICH DEREK NURSE FINALLY REALIZED THAT HE WAS ABSOLUTELY 100% GONE FOR WILLIAM POINDEXTER 

INT. THE HAUS – NIGHT

Every group of friends in America had a running joke that their lives were a sitcom. Nursey’s friends back in junior high had joked about it, and his friends at Andover had joked about it. Only, some groups of friends were definitely more suited for a sitcom than others, Nursey thought. The Samwell Men’s Hockey team, for example, were about as close as you could get to a sitcom in real life. There were times when Nursey felt like he should be looking for hidden cameras—times like right now.

“You. Dex. Beer pong. Now. D-Man pair versus D-Man pair,” Holster had said, grabbing Nursey’s arm and pulling him towards the beer pong table. It was already set up with two matching pyramids of red solo cups filled with—

 **CUT TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

“Hey, don’t you drink, like, _beer_ in beer pong?” Sam asked.

“And you two weren’t twenty-one yet in your sophomore year, right? So that would be, like, _illegal_ ,” Zara pointed out.

“Uh,” Derek said. “It was—”

“It was allowed because in Canada, you can drink when you’re nineteen,” Will supplied.

“Yeah, of course,” Derek said. “And since Uncle Ransom was one of our captains, we were allowed to follow Canada’s laws instead of the United States’.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Zara said skeptically.

Derek crossed his arms. “Well, trust me, it was legal. Uncle Crappy is a lawyer. As him the next time he comes over and he’ll tell you about the, uh, the law of....”

“The law of Cross-Country Minor-Status Transference,” Will said.

“Yeah. That.”

“But that law will never apply to you two. So, don’t drink,” Will said.

“Yeah. Listen to your dad. Don’t drink.”

 **CUT BACK TO:** HAUS

Holster grabbed Nursey’s arm and pulled him towards the _very much legal_ beer pong table. Nursey hadn’t been super keen on beer pong, since he was pretty shit at it, but he hadn’t resisted partially because Holster was his captain, and also because Holster was tall as hell and very strong. Mostly he’d gone along with it because Dex was one of the most competitive people he’d ever met. It was sort of fun, sometimes, to watch Dex get that invested in things. After about half an hour of fiercely competitive play, he was really glad he let himself be peer-pressured into joining.

Dex lined up the shot, his hair plastered to his forehead underneath his snapback and his tongue poking out of his mouth ever so slightly in concentration. He tilted his arm back. His eyes glanced down the length of the table. Then he took a deep breath, spun the ball once in his fingers, and sent the ball neatly into Ransom and Holster’s last remaining cup with a flick of his wrist.

The crowd that had gathered around the table exploded. Ransom’s hands flew to either side of his head in disbelief and Holster practically screamed.

“Holy fucking hell, Dex,” Holster shouted. “That’s six in a fucking row. What the fuck? What the fuck?!”

“How the fuck are you so good at this? You’ve only played this game _twice_ ,” Ransom complained. “And you even have Nursey on your team! What the fuck!”

“Nice job, Dexy,” Nursey said, ignoring Ransom’s implied insult and reaching for a fist-bump. “We win, bro.”

“No thanks to you, asshole,” Dex said, but he was grinning. For the first time ever, Dex actually returned the fist-bump, knocking their knuckles together lightly before Chowder pounced on both of them.

“Oh my gosh, I didn’t know Dex was so good at beer pong!” Chowder said, almost spilling beer on Nursey’s shoes. “That was so, so, so s’wawesome!”

Even though Nursey was feeling a little tipsy—Ransom and Holster hadn’t gone down without a fight, after all—he may as well have been stone-cold sober next to Chowder, who looked completely wasted.

“How many of those have you had, C?” he asked. Chowder wrinkled his eyebrows for a moment, like he was thinking.

“Um,” he said, “I’m not sure. How many is in a kegstand? And like, a couple cups of tub juice? Or three? No, two....”

“Probably too much,” Dex concluded. “You should go upstairs and get some rest.”

“Yeah, C,” Nursey said. “We don’t want a repeat of what happened after we beat Yale last year.”

 **CUT TO:** WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THEY BEAT YALE LAST YEAR

“I don’t feel so good,” Chowder said, his voice slurred as he leaned against Nursey’s side in the kitchen of the Haus.

“Yeah, you drank too much, buddy,” Nursey said.

Chowder nodded. Suddenly, his eyes widened. He turned around, stumbled to the kitchen sink, and threw up.

And then, as if on cue, Bitty walked in. His face was the picture of horror and righteous fury.

“Uh oh,” said Nursey.

 **CUT BACK TO:** HAUS

“Oh yeah,” Chowder said sadly. “Bitty got so mad about that....”

“At least none of your puke got on his oven,” Dex said reasonably. “Then he might have actually killed you.”

They all shared a collective shudder at the thought.

“Okay, I guess I probably should try to go to bed,” Chowder said. “But are you sure you two are gonna be, you know, okay? I know you don’t really like parties, Dex—”

“It’s fine,” Dex said quickly, “I’m having a good time, actually.”

“Yeah, he’s the beer pong _champion_ ,” Nursey said, slinging an arm over Dex’s shoulder. He was surprised when Dex didn’t immediately shove him off. Maybe it was the alcohol. “Dex is Mister Popular here, of course he’s having a good time.”

“Okay, well, good night you guys!” Chowder said, heading for the stairs. He disappeared into the crowd.

“So, what next, Dex?” Nursey asked. His arm was still around Dex’s shoulder. “You wanna obliterate some fresh meat at beer pong? We could challenge Whiskey and Tango.”

“Nah, I’d rather gloat in my glory a little longer,” Dex said.

“Alright, how about we try flip cup?”

“Flip cup? Is that the one where you—”

“Flip the cups? Yeah.”

“Don’t be a dick,” Dex smiled.

“I’m not being a dick,” Nursey said. “I’m like, the least dick-like. Ever.” Then, on an impulse, he reached over and snagged Dex’s snapback from his head and put it on his own.

“Hey!”

“See? Is that something a dick would do?”

“Yes, _dick_ ,” Dex said. He made a grab for the hat but Nursey jumped away, grinning impishly. Unfortunately, he jumped back right into the rickety beer pong table, which was old and not very stable to begin with. It could barely hold twenty half-full solo cups of beer, let alone a 6’2” college hockey player. The table collapsed underneath him, sending him sprawling onto the floor with a nearly deafening crash that made everyone in the Haus stop talking all at once.

 _Ow,_ Nursey thought. The music stopped. The lights came on. The house was quiet.

The silence was suddenly broken by a loud, full-bodied peal of laughter. This wasn’t a giggle or a snicker, but an honest-to-god guffaw, so noisy it seemed to single-handedly fill the entire house, the entire street, the entire _university_ , as far as Nursey was concerned. When he managed to get himself sitting upright—amidst the broken splinters of the table and the crushed solo cups and the spilt beer—he saw Dex, doubled over and clutching his chest, laughing so hard Nursey thought he might be crying. Dex’s eyes were screwed shut, his lashes fanned across his cheeks. He was smiling so wide Nursey thought it must hurt. His whole face changed when he smiled like this: the crease between his brows smoothed out, the apples of his cheeks became more prominent, his nose scrunched up in a way no one would hesitate to call adorable. He had dimples when he smiled, Nursey noticed vaguely.

It was the recognition of that small detail that put another very different kind of realization into Nursey’s head.

 _Oh_ , he thought. _Oh no_.

 **CUT TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

“So, that was when you first fell in love with Dad?” Sam asked dubiously.

“That’s not very romantic,” Zara commented.

Derek felt a little offended, even though Zara was sort of right. “What do you mean it wasn’t romantic?”

“I think what our daughter means,” Will said, “is that you were lying on your ass soaked in beer at an almost-frat house. Hardly a dream come true.”

“Yeah, that’s nothing like Uncle Jack and Uncle Bitty’s story,” Sam said.

“Well, we’re not Uncle Jack and Uncle Bitty,” said Derek. “And that’s an unreasonably high bar to set for us, Sam. Uncle Jack and Uncle Bitty are adorable.”

“Disgustingly adorable,” Will amended.

Derek frowned. “I wouldn’t say it’s _disgusting_ —”

“Also,” Zara interjected. “In the story about Uncle Chowder throwing up in the kitchen? You guys were freshmen, right? So you weren’t nineteen yet. So that would have been illegal, even in Canada.” She crossed her arms, looking very pleased with herself.

Derek sighed.

“Actually, Zara,” Will said, “Uncle Jack was our captain when we were freshmen, and he’s from Quebec. The drinking age there is 18. So by the law of, uh....”

“...Cross-Country...?” Derek prompted.

“...Cross-Country Minor-Status Transference—thanks, Derek—we would _still_ be allowed to drink.”

Zara glared at them for a moment, still very clearly skeptical. Then she uncrossed her arms and pouted. Derek had a feeling this wouldn’t be the end of her mission to incriminate them.

“So, what happened after you fell on the table?” Sam asked. “You didn’t finish.”

“Oh, uh,” said Derek. “I think I probably just pretended I wasn’t feeling good and left.”

Lardo snorted. “That’s definitely not what happened.”

“What do you mean?” Derek said.

“Well,” she began, “first of all, you didn’t leave.”

“...I didn’t?”

“No. You drank, like, three more cups of tub juice and then stumbled up to my room to whine at me about your feelings for the rest of the night.”

“I gotta say, that does sound like you,” Will said.

“Yeah,” Lardo said. “You were a mess.”

 **CUT TO:** THE SCENE WHERE DEREK NURSE ACTED COMPLETELY PREDICTABLY AND WAS LIKE, A TOTAL DRAMA QUEEN (AND ALSO LARDO WAS RIGHT)

INT. LARDO’S ROOM, THE HAUS - NIGHT

“Oh my god,” Nursey said, lying on his back in the middle of her bed. One of his arms was flung over his face in a pose that was too dramatic to be entirely accidental. “ Lardo, you _knew_. You were _right_.”

“Yep.”

“I didn’t _realize.”_

“Mm-hmm.”

“He was _laughing_. He was _beautiful_.”

“Okay.”

“Why is he so... so...” Nursey groaned. “I'm so _fucked_.”

“Yep,” Lardo said again. “You are.”

“And he has so many freckles. Like, they're stars on his face. Cheek polka dots. Fuck.”

Lardo sighed deeply and checked her phone. Shitty had texted her asking if she wanted to Skype, but she was getting the feeling that wasn't going to happen tonight. She sighed.

Well, at least she would get to gloat about this to their children.

 **CUT TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

Will was laughing so hard he was practically in tears. “Oh my god, I’ve never heard that part of the story before,” he said, gasping. “ _Cheek polka dots_? Did you really say that?”

“No,” Derek said. “Lardo’s just—”

“He did say that,” Lardo interrupted. “Word for word. That phrase was burned into my brain.”

“You’re supposed to be a _poet_ , Derek,” Will said. “That’s just sad.”

“Hey, babe, it was your fault,” Derek said defensively. “I was actually a pretty good poet before I fell in love with you.”

“Oh, well then, sorry for crushing your dreams. It’s not like you’ve been published _twice_ or anything.”

“Okay, okay, honey, I get it,” Derek said. “Just let me keep telling the story.”

 **CUT TO:** ONE OF THE (MANY) SCENES IN WHICH DEREK NURSE WAS BEING A HOPELESS ROMANTIC MESS WHO COULDN’T SEEM TO WRITE POETRY ABOUT ANYTHING EXCEPT WILLIAM POINDEXTER

INT. ANNIE’S CAFE - AFTERNOON

“What are you writing about?”

“Hm?”

“You look like you’re trying to make your paper catch fire,” Dex said, gesturing at Nursey’s moleskine journal. Nursey glanced down at the page. _If I pretend your gold is amber / how much longer could you stay?_ He’d been staring at the lines for the last ten minutes trying to tweak it into something usable.

“It’s nothing,” Nursey answered. “Just some poetry.”

“I figured,” Dex said, “but that didn’t answer my question. I asked what you were writing about.”

“Oh.” Nursey met Dex’s eyes over his teammate’s laptop. His hair was the same color as the oak leaves slicking the sidewalk outside. His lips looked soft.

If being around Dex had been difficult when he hated him, it was hell now that he was crushing on him. He couldn’t hang out with Dex without having at least one intrusive thought about kissing him. Everything Dex did felt new and important—a gentle nudge against his shoulder, the tap of his hand against his arm, the quick glance over team breakfast. He’d become hyperaware of each casual touch.

Nursey glanced at his poem again. There was nothing overtly incriminating in it—just a couple lines about fading freckles. It would be hard to guess that the poem was about Dex unless he told him. Still, it felt strange to hand over the journal and ask, “Do you want to read it?”

Dex gave him a steady look. Then, to Nursey’s surprise, he reached out and took the notebook. “Sure,” he said. “Thanks.”

Nursey had never shared his poetry with Dex before. He’d never shared it with anyone on the team—not even Lardo. The only people who’d seen his poetry were the people in his poetry workshop. For a moment, he felt the wild urge to snatch his journal back.

Instead he waited and watched Dex read. It wasn’t a long poem—only fifteen, maybe sixteen lines. As Nursey watched, Dex’s amber eyes tracked slowly down the page, sweeping left to right and back again, his lips set in a contemplative line. When he was halfway through, he brought a hand up towards his chin, resting his knuckles against his mouth. Nursey mimicked the gesture subconsciously, ghosting the pads of his fingers over his own lips before he could think better of it.

“It’s good,” Dex declared when he’d finished. He handed back the notebook and met Nursey’s eyes. “I mean, I don’t know much about poetry, but... it’s good.”

“Thanks, man,” Nursey replied. He tapped Dex’s foot under the table. “It means a lot.”

Dex might have grinned at him, but the smile was too faint for him to be sure.

 **CUT TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

“I guess you could say that was my first love poem to you,” Derek said. “I think I might still have that notebook somewhere.”

“You better,” said Will. “I actually did like that poem, you know.”

“Well, there’s plenty more where that one came from.”

“Bleh,” Lardo said. “You two and your romantic poetry.”

“It’s really just Derek. Don’t drag me into that,” said Will.

“You still haven’t finished the story,” Sam interrupted.

“Yeah,” Zara said. “When did you start dating?”

“Okay, fine,” Will said. “We’re almost there....”

 **CUT TO:** THE SCENE IN WHICH DEREK NURSE AND WILLIAM POINDEXTER FINALLY (FINALLY!!) GOT THEIR SHIT TOGETHER

INT. NURSEY’S DORM ROOM - AFTERNOON

“I applied for a work order, like, a week ago but they still haven’t come in yet,” Nursey said. Dex was following him into his dorm building, which was just across from Dex’s own. It was the same building Chowder lived in. “My roommate and I have sort of been living with a partially-open window for the last week, which has been okay, but now that it’s really starting to get cold—”

“Yeah, you need that fixed,” Dex agreed. He followed Nursey up the stairwell, keeping pace as they took stairs two at a time. It was easy for Dex to forget sometimes how perfectly matched the two of them were—equal height, equal strides, equal speed. Whatever muscle mass Nursey had over him was balanced by Dex’s reflexes. They were a team. “Samwell Housing Services isn’t very good at checking up with work orders. I’ve stopped sending them.”

They got to the third floor landing and turned into the hallway. “Yeah, that’s smart, but only if you actually know how to fix stuff—where’s my key?” Nursey asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“It’s in the zipper pocket in your jacket. I literally saw you put it there before we left the Haus,” Dex said. Nursey checked the zipper pocket and—surprise, surprise—there was his key.

“Thanks, man,” Nursey said, grinning at him. “Where would I be without you?”

“Probably dead in a ditch or something,” Dex said. “Let’s fix your window before you freeze to death, too.”

The broken window was at the end of the room, next to Nursey’s bed. It looked like the window had just come off of the slider rail, which was an easy enough thing to fix, but it meant that he’d have to take off both the window and the slider rail. He took his screwdriver out of his toolkit and got to work.

“Hey, Dex?”

“Yeah?”

“Where did you learn to fix stuff so well?” Nursey asked, watching Dex from his bed. Dex glanced over and saw that Nursey had taken off his shoes and socks, letting his bare feet hang over the edge of the mattress.

“Um,” Dex said, carefully putting one of the screws he’d taken out into his breast pocket. “Well, one of my uncles is an electrician, and another one of my uncles is a mechanical engineer, so we always had lots of people tinkering with stuff around the house. I guess it’s just something I grew up with.”

“I grew up with two professional buisnesswomen for mothers, but I never took to business,” Nursey said. Then, “Do you like it? Fixing things, I mean.”

“I guess so.” Dex put another screw in his pocket. He could feel Nursey’s eyes watching his hands as he worked, his quiet, attentive gaze tracking his movements. “I mean....” He frowned—the last screw was being stubborn. “It’s a good feeling, I guess, to fix something that’s broken. And it’s a lot different when you do it yourself.”

Nursey hummed. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Really? You never fix anything—you always just replace the things you break,” Dex said, carefully taking the window and sliding piece out of the window frame. He realigned them, slotting the window back into the rails, and set it back into the window frame. “Hey, could you hold the window up for me while I put the screws back in?”

“Yeah, no problem,” Nursey said. He hopped off the bed and padded next to Dex, reaching up to hold the window out of the way while Dex crouched down to put the first screw back in. It felt strangely intimate. He could still feel Nursey’s eyes on him, only now he was closer, standing directly above him with one of his arms outstretched over Dex’s head, keeping the window from falling back out of place. Dex stood a little straighter, moving onto the next screw. Nursey’s arm was resting just left of Dex’s shoulder now, his chest almost close enough to brush Dex’s back. Dex could smell Nursey’s cologne.

It would’ve be so easy, to just... lean back. Let go.

And the thing was, Dex did want to. He _did_. And he thought that there was at least a chance that Nursey might want that, too.

He honestly wasn’t sure what was holding him back anymore. Maybe it was the awkwardness of not having come out—of neither of them having come out, really. He had guesses about Nursey. He knew Chowder had the same guesses. But for all Nursey’s talk about being confident about his sexuality and masculinity, he’d never said anything specific to let the team know he wasn’t straight—just barely-there hints that Dex only noticed because he’d made them too, once upon a time.

(Not at Samwell. Back home. It was the summer after his junior year of high school. His name was Andy and when Will kissed him, sitting on the floor of Will’s bedroom watching Top Gun in the middle of the night, Andy kissed back. Andy kissed back, and then he panicked, pulled away, left, and didn’t talk to Will for two weeks.

It’d been tough but they were friends now. Andy had a boyfriend at his university in Michigan. He hadn’t told his parents. He and Dex still talked, sometimes.)

Dex stood all the way up and started working on the last screw, which was easier said than done—his fingers fumbled with the screw and the screwdriver, and he almost dropped both when Nursey’s soft exhale hit the shell of his ear. Maybe this was it. Maybe this was the end of dancing around each other, of wanting the unsaid. Dex wasn’t sure if he would ever be able to go back after this.

But then he finished screwing in the slider, and the window was fixed.

“There you go,” Dex said. Nursey pulled away, just a little, and let Dex hold the window on his own. The pane felt cold. “It should work now.”

“Thanks,” Nursey said. “I appreciate it, man.”

Dex slid the window up and down a couple times, just to make sure it wouldn’t come off the rail again, and then turned around with his back to the window. Nursey was watching him. He looked almost eager, almost terrified, but not quite either. His expression was in comic contrast to his posture, casually standing against the side of his bed with his arms folded lightly over his chest. Dex wondered how anyone had ever thought he was ‘chill’.

A small silence passed between them.

“I just wanted—”

“You know I’m—”

They both stopped.

“You first,” Nursey said.

“I....” Dex paused, cleared his throat. “You know I’m gay, right?”

To Nursey’s credit, he didn’t react like this was news to him. His eyes widened a little, and he stood up a bit straighter, but otherwise he stayed still. “I, um,” he hesitated, “I didn’t know. I thought there was a chance you might not be, you know, straight, and I hoped—I mean.... Shit.”

At the word ‘hope’, Dex pushed away from the windowsill, crowding Nursey back against his own bed. He let his fingers gently curve around one of Nursey’s wrists. This was happening.

“So, it’s not just me, right?” Dex asked quietly. “We’ve been dancing around this for a while.”

“Yeah,” Nursey agreed. “I didn’t know. For a while I didn’t know. But....” He slouched further against the bed, looking up at Dex through his lashes. “I think kissing you would be, like, really chill.”

“Oh my god,” Dex said, rolling his eyes, but he leaned forward anyway.

Nursey’s lips were soft. They touched his own lightly at first, hesitant. Gentle. Then there was a hand around his waist, pulling him close, and another hand rubbing circles into his wrist, and Dex let himself go, let himself fall into it in the way he’d wanted to for far longer than he’d admit. He pressed himself forward against Nursey’s chest and snaked one of his hands into Nursey’s hair— _god_ it felt good to do that—and licked his tongue forward, tasting Nursey’s bottom lip. Nursey let out a low hum in the back of his throat that made Dex shiver.

He was kissing Nursey. He was _kissing Nursey_.

Dex couldn’t help the smile that worked its way across his lips. Smiling wasn’t the most conducive to making out, but there honestly wasn’t much he could do.

“What?” Nursey whispered against his cheek. “Are you laughing?”

“No,” Dex said. “Just can’t believe this is happening, s’all.”

“Me neither,” Nursey said, trailing kisses along Dex’s jaw. He let out a sigh.

“Hey Nursey?”

“Hm?”

“Earlier, when you were about to say something, before I told you I was gay,” Dex asked, “was it something important?”

“Not really,” Nursey replied. He pulled away a little to look at Dex. “Just that I’m, you know, not straight. As in, I’m pansexual. But you probably could already get that from the context, so.”

“Yeah,” Dex said and now he really was laughing, just a little. “Yeah, I sort of guessed.”

“Sweet,” Nursey said. “Can we go back to making out, or...?”

“No, yeah, let’s do that,” said Dex.

“Chill.”

There were significantly fewer words after that.

 **CUT TO:** NURSE-POINDEXTER HOUSEHOLD

“And then we started dating. We told the rest of the team about... halfway through our sophomore year?”

“I think it might have been a lot closer to the end of the year, actually,” Will said. “We wanted to avoid fines for as long as possible.”

“Oh yeah—fines....” Derek said. “I’m pretty sure I still owe the Samwell Men’s Hockey team, like, fifty bucks from that time when I asked you to Spring C during a mid-game celly that one time.”

“I remember that,” Lardo said matter-of-factly. “That was ridiculous.”

“Then we graduated from Samwell and moved here to Vermont,” Will said. “And after a little while, we decided to have you two.”

“Ahem. With my help,” said Lardo. “Don’t leave me out of this.”

“Of course,” Derek said. “As bio mom, you’re automatically a big deal.”

Lardo nodded. “Damn right.”

“I think it might be time for you two to head to bed,” Will said, looking at the microwave clock. “It’s already half an hour past your bedtime, and you two have school tomorrow.”

“Can we have just one more story?” Sam asked. “How did you tell the rest of the team that you were together? What happened at Spring C?”

“Maybe another time, kiddo,” Derek said.

“But Auntie Lardo hasn’t gotten to tell us many stories!” Zara insisted. “Auntie Lardo, _please_?”

“How about Auntie Lardo tucks you into bed instead?” Will asked. “As long as Auntie Lardo is okay with that.”

“Sure,” Lardo nodded. “Sounds good. C’mon duckies, let’s go upstairs.”

“Betcha I can get upstairs faster,” Zara said to Sam, and then took off.

“No! Wait! That’s not fair!” Sam said, racing after her.

Lardo shrugged. “See you two in a minute,” she said to Will and Derek, then followed the kids upstairs.

And then they were alone.

“I forget how young and stupid we were,” Derek said, offering Will a hand as he got to his feet. “It’s been such a long time....”

“We were teenagers. That’s how we were supposed to be acting,” Will shrugged. He took Derek’s hand, pulling himself off the couch and into Derek’s space. He leaned in close enough that their noses were touching. “Besides, I’m not entirely convinced that you haven’t gotten over that phase.”

“Psh,” Derek said dismissively. “I have a job, a house, and two kids, and I’m married to the best guy on the planet. I’m pretty sure that’s got to be at least a few points away from ‘young and stupid.’”

Will shrugged. “Depends,” he said.

“On what?”

“On how often you decide that Pizza Rolls are a suitable alternative to an actual home-cooked dinner.”

“That was _three times_.”

“Three times in the past _month_ , Derek.”

“Fine. It’s not like I start arguments with the self-checkout machine at the grocery store, though.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Fine, okay, you got me,” he said. “Maybe—and this is definitely a maybe—you do count as at least a bit of an adult. But you’re wrong about one thing.”

Derek raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“You said you were married to the best guy on the planet,” Will said, “but I’m pretty sure that _I’m_ the one who ended up landing the best guy on Earth, so.”

“When did you get to be such a sap?” Derek asked. “I thought that was my job.”

“You love it, though,” Will grinned.

Derek sighed. “Yeah, I do.” He tilted his head forward, just a bit, to slot their lips together. After so many kisses over so many years, Derek didn’t think he would ever get tired of this—the closeness, the feeling of Will’s lips moving against his own. It was always as intoxicating as the first time.

“Hey, babe?” Derek asked.

“Hm?” Will murmured against his mouth.

“I love you,” he said.

Will didn’t miss a beat when he said, “Yeah, I love you too.”

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, Nursey and Dex got married and had two kids with Lardo as their egg donor and possibly surrogate? And everything was awesome. :D Also, I don't think it ended up coming up in any specific way in this fic, but usually when I write Dex, he's trans, so he probably is in this fic too. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this fic! Thanks for stopping by!


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